


Darkness After Dawn

by Gailgameshy



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Character Death, F/M, M/M, Multi, Psychological Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-16 05:16:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12336213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gailgameshy/pseuds/Gailgameshy
Summary: There were 4 people at the party who had nothing to do with the prank that caused the death of Hannah and Beth Washington.  Beth was one of them.  The other 3 stick together through a traumatic year, and on the anniversary, decide together to make the 5 perpetrators pay.*This is primarily from Sam and Chris' viewpoint, at least for now.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter is rough, as the prologue. Just want to set up the differences between my universe and canon. Once I get to the game, it will go much more in depth. Also, there will be quite a bit of quoting the game, particularly in the presence of anyone other Sam, Josh, or Chris. I'm going on the thought that Josh had most of his interactions with the others planned, so in this universe, Sam and Chris would have theirs planned as well.

It's generally assumed that if your best friend has an older brother, you will at some point develop a crush on said older brother. In that respect, Samantha Giddings met expectations. When she also developed a crush on the older brother's best friend, well, that's when she went off the map. On the plus side, she wasn't alone.

If anyone had warned Samantha (Sam to her friends) about the consequences of becoming Hannah Washington's best friend, she a) wouldn't have believed them and b) would have done it anyway. After all, along with Hannah, you got the special prize bundle of Beth (Hannah's twin) and Josh (their devoted older brother). After Josh found his best friend Christopher Hartley, the group was complete. Not that they didn't hang out with others, but those 5 were inseparable. Any party, any gathering, the only time you saw them apart was when Hannah indulged her obsession to follow Mike Munroe around like a lost puppy.

The years went by and puberty (along with the resulting hormones) started making some changes. Hannah's obsession became less of a joke and more of a fact of life. Beth clung tighter to her sister, hoping to help prevent any emotional damage before it happened, and it left that little bit less room for Sam in Hannah's life. Not much, but noticeable, especially given Hannah's unpleasant reaction to Sam attempting to help her see reason. And probably most importantly, the innocent teasing and flirting that had been Josh and Sam's speech method of choice since they met became less innocent, and more heartfelt.

By the time Sam's 16th birthday rolled around, Josh and Sam were officially a couple, that is one with a permanent third wheel in the form of Chris. Not that either of them cared. Chris may have been Josh's best friend, but he had quickly cemented a place in Sam's heart as well. The teasing and flirting talk Josh had routinely flung Sam's way was also directed to Chris, and Chris gave as good as he got, to both Josh and Sam. While their group of friends never took it seriously, after a long discussion between the couple, Josh got to spend his 18th birthday watching movies with his boyfriend and girlfriend.

While all three were perfectly content with their polyamory, they knew with Josh's history of psychological disorders it would not go over well with their friends or family. Luckily, a savior arrived in the form of Ashley Brown. Ashley was just awkward enough that her huge crush on Chris was obvious to everyone, and just shy enough that they could count on her to never work up the nerve to actually ask Chris out. When Chris played up his natural awkwardness around every female that wasn't Sam, Hannah, or Beth, the entire school thought Ashley's crush was reciprocated, and the focus was taken off the permanent third wheel status.

Soon enough, they all graduated high school (Josh's parents had held him back a year early on, due to his perceived depression), and during their first year of college they were able to secure the Washington family mountain lodge for a winter getaway party to end all parties. That's when everything went to hell. 

By this time, the group of friends encompassed not just the Washingtons, Sam, and Chris, but there was also Ashley, Mike Munroe, Mike's girlfriend Emily Davis, Emily's best friend Jessica Riley, and Matthew Taylor. With this many people, there was bound to be a bit of conflict, helped along by the necessary (according to Josh) copious amounts of alcohol provided. There was a drinking competition, which left both Chris and Josh passed out beyond waking, and a game of truth or dare during which enough was both said and done that Jessica got offended by Hannah's crush on Mike, saying she had to support Emily. When Hannah, Beth, and Sam left the game, the remaining players came up with a “prank” to punish the elder Washington twin for her crush.

Sam discovered the prank in it's preparation stage, and immediately set out to find Hannah in the hopes of stopping the prank before harm was done. She was unsuccessful, and only found Hannah when the prank hit its crescendo, followed immediately by Beth, who had found the note that began the prank as well. While Beth ran out into the blizzard after Hannah, Sam severely reprimanded the rest of the group even as she tried desperately to rouse both Chris and Josh. When that proved a failure, she followed after Beth and Hannah, only to lose their trail, and returned alone to the lodge after a couple hours, around the same time Josh and Chris finally started waking.

Over the next year, Chris and Sam gave a prayer of thanks multiple times that the threesome shared an apartment off campus. It meant they could always make sure Josh had someone with him, as the disappearance and presumed death of his sisters caused a severe backslide in any progress that had been made in regards to his disorder. Thankfully, when he woke from nightmares of Hannah and Beth blaming him, Chris and Sam could be counted on to hold him, assure him that he was blameless, and hide the blades and drugs.

8 months after the twins' disappearance, none of the pranksters had ever admitted any guilt or responsibility for their part. And after another sleepless night, Chris, Sam, and Josh looked at each other, all of them swimming in guilt, feeling like if they had only done more then Hannah and Beth would still be with them, and they decided it wasn't fair. It wasn't right that the 3 of them, who had no part in sending Hannah and Beth out into the storm, were suffering. It wasn't right that Hannah and Beth were missing because someone felt threatened by a crush. And it definitely wasn't right that the five who were at fault, were to blame, still felt they were in the right.

While the sleepless nights still continued for the 3 who had no part in the prank, now when the nightmares woke them, they focused their energy on righting that balance. They planned out an anniversary party, a remembrance party, to make sure that the guilty were punished. And maybe, finally, the nightmare visions of Hannah and Beth that haunted Josh would rest.


	2. Chapter 1

No one was sure the exact time anyone would show up, but just for appearance's sake, Sam and Chris decided to pretend they hadn't spent the last month up at the lodge with Josh, testing and prepping for their guests. They waited in the town at the bottom of the mountain until Josh texted them, saying everyone else had already taken the cable car up to the lodge. It sparked a feeling of anticipation and relief when Sam spotted Chris' backpack at the lower car station.

“Chris?” Sam rolled her eyes when there was no answer. Just like him to wander off and leave his backpack unattended to play at the shooting range. Then his phone started vibrating. Before it could fall out of his backpack, Sam grabbed it, only to scowl down at it when she saw that it was a message from Ashley.

“Hey, nosy.” The reprimand implied by the words was belied by the way Chris' arms slid around her waist, pulling her into an embrace. Sam relaxed into his hold once she realized who it was holding her. A quick kiss to his jaw, then she returned to scowling at the phone.

“I'm so tired of her,” Sam muttered in response to the questioning look Chris gave her, handing him back his phone. Chris let go of her to go pick up his backpack, shooting her a sympathetic look as he did.

“At least this is the last weekend we have to deal with any of them. Oh, check this out!” A smile wormed its way onto Sam's face as Chris pulled her over to the side of the building towards the shooting range. “Doesn't it look authentic?” The pride evident in his voice made Sam give Chris a hug of his own as they looked at the torn Wanted poster for Victor Milgram.

“It sure does. But if we want to get this going, we do have to actually ride the car up to the lodge,” and Sam held Chris' hand as she dragged him away to the cable car. “You coming?”

“Well, I was gonna stay here and catch some Zs, but...okay.” As the car started moving, Sam straddled Chris, resting her arms on his shoulders, hands behind his neck. “What's this all about then?” he asked, smirking.

“It's an awful long trip up the mountain, and you and I haven't had much alone time recently. Plus, if I have to watch Ashley make eyes at you,” she started unzipping his coat, moving her mouth towards his neck, “I want to know you're wearing my mark.”

A shuddering gasp, and a tightening hold was the only response she got.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five minutes later, the car came to a halt at the upper station, leaving Chris and Sam to reluctantly depart. And then unhappily bang on the door and window until Jessica unlocked the door and let them out of the station.

“Oh. My. God,” Chris stated as dramatically as possible (more than most could manage, given his years of friendship with Josh). “I thought we were goners. Another ten minutes in there and I would have chewed off my own leg.” At Sam's incredulous look, “Look, I got a lot of meat on my bones. This is all muscle down here.”

Sam shot a quick glance at Jessica, and seeing her focused on a letter in her hands, felt free to leer at Chris while giving him an obvious once over. Chris preened under the attention before swiping the letter out of Jess' hands.

“Hey!” Jessica immediately tried to regain control of her mail, but given Chris' height, the battle didn't last long, and Chris soon had the letter opened.

“My goodness. Seems like someone has a lil' crush on our good friend and dear class president. What sort of sizzling erotica might Jessica be capable of imagining?” Chris waved the letter at Jessica, inviting her elaboration. She snatched it back, attempting an air of nonchalance.

“Mike and Em split. We're together.” Chris let out a silent thankful prayer that Jessica just looked down at the letter, as it meant she couldn't see the rage-filled glare he could feel Sam level her direction. It spoke to her self-absorption that she also failed to hear the disdain when Sam spoke.

“Wait. When Mike and Emily broke up, you and Mike decided to hook up?”

“Yeah. Em's out. I'm in.” Jessica finally looked up, but thankfully it had given Chris and Sam time to school their expressions into ones reflecting polite interest as opposed to anger or disbelief. After a moment of awkward silence, Chris let out a small cough and brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck.

“Alright, let's just get up to the lodge already. Getting tired of all this nature and junk.”

Jessica stepped back, as though Chris was going to drag her up the mountain. “You guys go on ahead. I'm just gonna wait here a bit. See who else is coming.”

Chris felt obligated to tease her, feeling it would be a normal reaction, but he knew Sam was trying to hold herself together behind him, and honestly he wasn't faring much better. “Uh huh, Sam?” He didn't take it personally when Sam just started walking up the path without saying a word.


	3. Chapter 2  Part 1

The look Chris gave Josh when the trio were reunited spoke volumes, even as they began bantering by rote. “When you gonna install some cell towers up here? I'm getting withdrawals already.”

“You got a spare million lying around and I'll fix you right up,” Josh retorted, shooting Chris a questioning glance when Sam latched onto Josh without a word, muffling a growl into his chest before they turned to continue walking towards the lodge steps.

“Funny you should say that,” Chris gave a quick shake of his head. “Ah, I think I left it in my other jacket.”

“Oops.” Josh gave Sam a quick squeeze and kiss to the top of her head before separating to greet Ashley and Matt who were sitting on the lodge steps. “Hey guys. Get up here okay?”

Ashley looked up with a smile, barely glancing at Josh before focusing on Chris. “Yeah... well, more of less. But it's so good to see you!” Matt, in contrast to Ashley's greeting, just stood there silently, glowering at the path behind the trio.

“Sup with him?” Josh asked, keeping his arm across Sam's shoulders, giving a brief caress when he felt her tense at Ashley's greeting. Ashley just shrugged, smile dropping off her face as she looked at the ground.

Josh gave Sam a final squeeze before joining Chris in walking up to the lodge door. Matt walked away from the stairs, moving a little down the path, while Sam joined Ashley in sitting on the stairs, hiding her reluctance with practice and proceeding to make small talk. “Yo yo yo! Are we gonna get things moving up here or what?” Chris asked, small grin on his face returned by Josh.

“Yeah man!” As they put a little more distance between themselves and the girls, Josh dropped to a bare murmur. “What happened with Sammy while you guys were gone?” Chris shot a worried look behind them as Josh tried the lock on the front door.

“I'll tell you when we get a little time to ourselves,” Chris finally replied at the same volume. His eyebrows rose in disbelief when the lock failed to turn. Josh shot him a sly smile.

“Luckily I gave us some,” he murmured again, before raising his voice. “Damnit.... This freaking thing...”

“It's iced?” Chris asked incredulously.

“What else?” was Josh's only reply, the grin on his face showing his enjoyment at baffling Chris. Chris merely rolled his eyes.

“There's gotta be another way in.”

“There's a million ways in. They're just all locked,” Josh answered unrepentantly, nodding to the side of the house slightly.

With an inaudible sigh, and while rubbing his forehead as though trying to stave off a headache, Chris suggested, “Maybe there's a window around the corner we can, I don't know, 'get open' or something?”

“Are you suggesting we break in?” When Chris merely looked at him as though Chris was trying to develop pyrokinesis, Josh raised his hands in surrender and wandered back down the steps, walking over to Sam. Chris chuckled when he saw Sam threaten Josh with a fist, but still accept a brief kiss. Then his attention was drawn away.

“Hi Chris!” The eternal hopeful, lovesick look in Ashley's eyes, still made Chris uncomfortable, but he did his best to grin and bear it, made a little bit easier by knowing he wouldn't have to for much longer.

“Hey Ash. You doing alright?”

Ashley looked down as though her hands had suddenly become the most interesting things in the world. “Yeah... aside from being kinda cold... and vaguely creeped out by this place.”

“It's kinda weird being back up here huh?”

Chris couldn't help but roll his eyes again as he walked over to join Josh, who was now waiting for him, when she could only answer with a quiet “Yeah”.

As soon as they turned the corner and knew they were out of earshot, Chris answered Josh's earlier query. “First, she saw a message Ashley sent me, then we found out that Jessica is now with Mike.”

“Really?” the anger in Josh's voice was only matched by the anger Sam had given off when she found out. Chris leaned against the house, growing slightly worried as Josh closed his eyes and brought his hands up to grip his head.

“Yeah. I thought Sam was going to push her right off the mountain, but she pulled it together. Stupid bitch didn't even realize how pissed off Sam got.” Chris gave another silent sigh, this time of relief, as Josh's grip on his own head relaxed and Josh looked Chris' direction. He walked over into Chris' waiting arms and they cuddled briefly, glad to be away from their friends' eyesight. “Hey, they'll pay. Now we'll just send Mike and Jess to the cabin, and have Matt and Emily go looking for a bag. If you have any new ideas, I'm sure Sam would sneak away from her bath to help you out.”

“Nah, Sam should rest in her bath. She'll need the energy.” Josh slowly removed himself from Chris, reassuring Chris with a look that he was holding it together. Chris accepted it, and they continued their walk to an open window.

“You two are not giving up on that bet, are you?” Chris asked with a shake of his head.

“Come on, Cochise. I can totally be a better villain than she can a Final Girl.” Josh gestured to a cabinet, and the duo worked together to get it under the window.

“I can't believe you froze the lock,” Chris grumbled as he climbed through, falling on his ass in the basement. “I'm okay. Should have paid more attention in climbing class.”

“You mean gym?” Josh laughed. “And believe me, with that one thing, no one is going to doubt that we all got here tonight. Here, take this.” He threw Chris a lighter. “You know where my deodorant is, use it with the lighter.”

Chris lit the lighter, and held it up like a torch. “Hell yeah, flamethrower the lock.”

Josh grinned and nodded. “And while you take care of that, I'm going to go swipe one of Emily's bags that Matt so kindly hauled up. Wanna take care of that before she gets up here. You up for wandering around in the dark a little bit?”

“Nope. But I'll do it. Be careful, don't get caught.”

Josh saluted him, then flipped him off. “Godspeed, pilgrim.” 

Chris returned the bird with a grin before heading to the bathroom to grab the deodorant, glad the past month made it easy for him to locate the can. Even so, as he grabbed the deodorant, he could hear Sam and Ashley starting to complain. So he made sure to hurry back to the front door, melting the ice, and forgetting to give the metal time to cool before he grabbed the doorknob. A quick hiss as he shook his hand out, before he bowed as the others made their way inside. “Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.”


	4. Chapter 2 Part 2

“Home sweet home,” Josh said quietly as he followed Sam, Ashley, and Matt inside. A quick fist bump with Chris celebrated the fact that the lodge looked like it had been deserted, not hosting the trio for the last month, proven when Matt opened his mouth.

“Sweet is not the word I'd use.”

Ashley walked over to one of the chairs, collapsing into it. “Oh my gosh, it is so good to be inside! Even if it is still kinda freezing in here.”

“I'll get a fire going,” Josh offered, heading to the fireplace while Sam and Chris grabbed themselves a seat.

“This place barely looks any different,” Matt said quietly, looking around.

Josh replied with a shrug. “Nobody's been up here.”

Sam couldn't help but sneer when Ashley jumped into the conversation, although she made sure her face was hidden.

“Even with all the police coming in and out?”

All of the conspirators felt a familiar flash of anger at the fact that it seemed no one had bothered to keep up on how the search (that was their fault!) had been going, but Chris was the only one able to answer Ashley. “Not a lot of action up here lately.”

Thankfully for their plot, Mike and Jess entered the lodge before the entire mood (and therefor weekend and plan) could be ruined.

“What's up, party people?” Mike exclaimed, getting a basic response from everyone. Except Matt.

“Make yourself at home, bro,” Josh offered, gesturing to an empty loveseat, which Mike and Jess quickly headed towards.

“Will do,” was all Mike could say before Matt interjected.

“Yeah. Come on in.” The entire group was shocked at the venom they heard in Matt's voice, although Ashley cringed a bit, which caught Chris' eye before Matt continued. “Take a load off. Have whatever you want. You just take whatever you want anyways, right?”

As Matt walked over towards Mike, Josh backed away from the fireplace and Sam stood and made her way to his side. Their clasped hands and small nudges the only way they trusted themselves to communicate their amusement at the situation. Chris, meanwhile was stuck sitting next to Ashley, although he decided to ask her about the situation, since she seemed to be reacting as though she knew more than they did.

“Woah, easy there cowboy.” Mike stepped away from Jessica, towards Matt, and no one could tell if he truly wanted to ease the tension or spike it further.

“What the hell were you doing with Em out on the trail, huh?” Matt threw the accusation/question out, and Sam and Josh couldn't help but glance at each other, a spark of sadistic glee in their eyes.

“What?” was all Mike had to say.

Matt clenched his teeth, jaw twitching with tension before he could speak again. “I saw you and Em. Through the telescope.” At the last word, Ashley flinched slightly, which just furthered Chris' resolve to get her insight, although Mike just scoffed.

“Before? We just ran into each other. It'd been a while so we hugged and I said hello.” A quick, semi-threatening step closer to Matt. “Is that against the law?”

Apparently when push came to shove, Matt couldn't back up his attitude, because he quickly backed down. “Erm. Right.” A small step away seemed to give him a flicker of confidence again. “Right, I'm sure that's all it was.”

Mike scoffed, going back to Jessica's side. “You know what? You can think whatever you want. It's a free country.”

Matt sat in a lone armchair, while Mike and Jess quickly ensconced themselves in a loveseat and began kissing. “Watch yourself, Mike.” The atmosphere in the room was just leveling out when Emily walked in, brandishing her own brand of bitch.

“Oh. My god. That is so gross. Are you trying to swallow his face whole?” Most of the room had a flash of a memory of Emily and Mike in a very similar situation the year before, and while quite a few let the memory die, three of them used it to stoke their need for vengeance.

“Em...” Matt said quietly, making his way to Emily's side, oblivious to the all but the most obvious of undercurrents, but at least not alone in that.

“Seriously, can she be any more obvious?” Emily sneered at Jess as she stood up. “No one wants in on your territory, honey.”

“Excuse me, did you say something?” Jess asked nastily, walking to Emily.

“Oh, did you not hear me? Was your sluttiness too loud?” No one could decry Emily's skill in a verbal battle.

“Sounds like someone's bitter she didn't make the cut,” and it was obvious Jess had used her time as Emily's friend as an apprenticeship in the art of bitching.

Sam made the conscious decision to tune out the catfight getting ready to occur in the living room in favor of monitoring Josh, who seemed torn between letting the girls go at it or joining in with some yelling of his own. Sam pulled him into a hug, and stroked his back as he shook slightly. 

Chris looked over at his partners, but knew if he got up to join them, it would just draw unneeded attention, so settled back into his chair grumpily. Ashley seemed to think he was nervous about the impending fight and flashed him a reassuring smile that he could barely return.

Josh let Sam calm him down, and looked up just in time to see the verbal fight get ready to switch to a physical one. “STOP IT! This is not why we came up here. This is not...” he looked down where Sam and grabbed his hand again, “helping. It's not what I wanted. If we can't get along for ten minutes then maybe we need a little bit of a break, right?” He looked over at Mike, and gestured to the side door. “Mike, why don't you check out the guest cabin? The one I told you about.”

Mike finally stood up from his front row seat to the girls' fight. “Yeah, yeah.” Jessica quickly went to his side, putting her arm around his waist. “Want to go do that?” Mike asked Jess.

“Anywhere without that whore,” Jess gave Emily one last frigid look before walking out the door with Mike.

“It's right up the trail,” Josh hollered after them, receiving a wave of acknowledgment from Mike before the door closed.

“Whew, glad that's over,” Matt said, trying to fill the silence that descended on the lodge.

A quiet “Yeah,” from Josh as he walked over the fireplace again was the only answer, everyone sinking into their own thoughts, ignoring Emily and Matt's discussion of a missing piece of luggage and subsequent disappearance back out the front door and down the path. The door closing jarred Sam, and she realized it was the cue for her first scripted part.

“Okay, I'm going to go take a bath.” And she walked up the stairs, grinning with pleasure that all parties were unknowingly following the paths that had been decided for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to say, I realize that Sam and Chris may be slightly OOC, but in this universe I figure Josh has rubbed off on them quite a bit (in so many ways). And with them trying to help Josh come to terms/cope with his disorder, they've had to face some truths about themselves as well. Like the darkness that I think we all have somewhere in ourselves. They also viewed Hannah and Beth as sisters, or at least sisters-in-law. And then on top of all that, you have them not feeling comfortable coming out in regards to the real relationship, and how they've chosen to hide it causes its own stress. So, that's why Sam is a bit more of a bitch in this story.


End file.
